A new study from China has revealed that men must exercise nearly twice as much as women to achieve the same protection against heart disease.
Published in Nature Cardiovascular Research, the study analyzed data from over 85,000 participants in the U.K. Biobank to explore how physical activity impacts heart disease risk differently in men and women.
Using wearable fitness trackers such as smartwatches, researchers monitored moderate to vigorous activity levels and followed participants — who had no history of coronary heart disease at the start — for almost eight years. The average age of participants was 61 for incidence tracking and 66 for mortality analysis.
After accounting for major risk factors like BMI and smoking habits, the researchers found a striking difference between genders. Women showed a stronger heart health benefit from less physical activity, while men needed significantly more exercise to achieve similar results.
For instance, every extra 30 minutes of weekly activity reduced women’s heart disease risk by 2.9%, compared to only 1.9% in men. Meeting the recommended 150 minutes of weekly exercise lowered women’s risk by 22%, while men saw a 17% reduction.
When participants doubled their workouts to 300 minutes per week, women experienced a 21% drop in risk, whereas men saw only 11%.
To achieve a 30% lower risk of coronary heart disease, women needed about 250 minutes of weekly exercise, but men required around 530 minutes. For heart disease mortality, just 51 minutes of activity per week was enough to reduce women’s death risk by 30%, while men needed about 85 minutes.
Researchers emphasized that these results highlight the need for sex-specific heart disease prevention strategies, especially using wearable devices to track activity and encourage consistency.
Fox News medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel weighed in on the findings, noting that biological differences play a major role. “Men tend to have higher testosterone, which negatively affects cholesterol levels, and they store fat around the abdomen — a major trigger for inflammation,” he said.
He added that lifestyle habits also contribute: “Men smoke more, drink more, and exercise less. All these factors increase their heart disease risk.”
Although women’s risk rises after menopause, Siegel said, “Men need much more exercise to compensate for these disadvantages.”